On Thursday 1 September nine schools from across the Townsville Diocese came together to participate in the Annual Festival of Sport Carnival. This is an amazing opportunity for year six students within our Diocese to come together to showcase not only their skills, but to mingle with other students whilst having a fun filled day of competition and sportsmanship.

Roughly 580 students joined together to play Oztag, Newcombe, Soccer, Netball and Basketball, which were the five sports on offer this year. The students travelled to different venues around Townsville to participate in their chosen sport. Teams played a round robin competition with a grand final at the end of the day. There is a winning boys’ and girls’ team shield for each sport, with a mixed shield if the competition suits.

Our Oztag Festival of Sports Day was another resounding success. This year we had over 200 eager players make their way to Centrals Rugby League fields to showcase their skills. An amazing number of competitors. In the girl's final, Southern Cross Catholic College managed a hard-fought narrow victory over Ryan Catholic College. The boy's final was equally close with St Clare’s managing to hold out St Joseph’s Mundingburra.

The Newcombe day was hosted at Southern Cross Catholic College and saw some extremely close games. The students showed outstanding sportsmanship and as the day progressed their skills and communication improved immensely. The grand final saw St Catherine’s 1 go up against St Catherine’s 2 with St Catherine’s 1 coming out victorious.

A great day was spent at the Townsville Netball Murray courts with fierce competition from all participating schools. The players battled it out for a spot in the grand final which saw Southern Cross Catholic College take home the shield against St Benedict's Catholic School. It is so wonderful to see how this annual carnival inspires and motivates students. A special mention must go to St Benedict’s Catholic School who participated in the competition for the first time in 2021. After this carnival last year some students were eager to keep playing Netball and went on to join club Netball and they came back in 2022 to win all their pool games and make the finals. This is exactly what the Festival of Sport aims to do by giving students different experiences within different sports.  

Fourteen teams, both boys and girls, made their way over to Townsville Basketball stadium for this year’s competition. The students played outstanding all day and showed a massive improvement in skills and communication. The day was busy, and the battle was fierce. The boys grand final match saw Ryan Catholic College go up against Good Shepherd Catholic School Rasmussen, with Ryan taking home the shield. In the girls grand final Ryan Catholic College played off against Southern Cross Catholic College with Ryan again holding up the overall shield.

Soccer was held at Brolga Fields at Murray Sporting Complex this year. The students arrived excited and eager to get the competition started. All students demonstrated a high level of skills and sportsmanship throughout the day. Southern Cross Catholic College came out on top at the end of the day defeating Good Shepherd Catholic School In the Grand Final 3-0 taking home the shield. 

The Festival of Sport is an annual event that takes planning in advance to ensure venues are booked, teams are filled and draws are completed so an organised and well run competition can take place. This year five teachers from different schools within the Diocese each convened a sport, overseeing the running of the day and ensuring it all went smoothly. Melinda Holmes and Kathryn Vickers from Southern Cross Catholic College, convened Newcombe, Anthony Meekin from St Joseph’s Catholic School The Stand, convened Oztag, Emma Duyvestyn from St Joseph’s Mundingburra, convened Netball, Alisha Ford from Good Shepherd Catholic College Rasmussen, convened Soccer and Nicole Accatino from St Clare’s Catholic School Burdell, convened Basketball.

Overall the 2022 Festival of Sport carnival was an enormous success. All schools and participants thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we are already looking forward to our big day out in 2023.